The historic center of Verona, Italy, is dominated by a massive 16,000-seat coliseum, seen in this undated photo. The arena has been the setting for everything from opera to deadly gladiatorial spectacles, and despite it's size, the acoustics are so extraordinary that no electronic amplification is needed. PHOTO - TASR/AP

MILAN - Scribbled love notes cover the walls around the tiny marble balcony where the mythical Juliet is said to have pined for Romeo, but Verona wants amorous visitors to go digital in the interest of preservation. Authorities in Verona, the northern Italian city home to literature's most famous star-crossed lovers, say thousands of notes, often little more than scrawled notes on candy wrappers stuck with gum, are destroying the 13th century house.

"It is time to clean the building, because people aren't just writing on the walls of entrance arch, they are sticking notes on the walls with gum," said Francesca Tamellini, responsible for tourism at the Verona city council. "It has become really ugly." Verona plans instead to ask visitors to use their mobile phones, sending text messages to a giant screen. "It seemed the best solution to us, and it will appeal to young people, who are the first to want to send their messages," Tamellini said, adding the screen could be ready by next summer. Juliet's house, in reality a former inn, is traditionally held to have been the home of the Capulets, her powerful family. Acquired by the council a century ago, it was officially designated "the house of Juliet" in 1935.

William Shakespeare, whose 16th century play celebrated the two young lovers, probably never visited Verona, but starry-eyed visitors are not discouraged. Tourists flock by the thousands to see the courtyard, the balcony under which Romeo allegedly proclaimed his love and a languid statue of Juliet, said to bring luck to the lovelorn. Many of them, keen to leave their mark, scrawl something on scraps of paper or on the wall itself, for posterity. "I would like to teach you, not to love me, my love, but to tell me you do," writes Chiara Cabassi, whose letter was one of those awarded a prize by the Giulietta Club, a local association which collects the missives. The club says the tradition dates from 1937, when the first letter addressed to "Juliet, Verona" was found by the custodian of her tomb.

"Certainly there is a problem -- it was okay when people were just writing on the walls, but then it was chewing gum, papers stuck on and you can't even see the walls," said Giulio Tamassia, who heads the Giulietta Club. "But text messages seem a little strange. It doesn't seem appropriate to have them flashing up on a screen -- most importantly, how can you reply to them all?" REUTERS